NEW DELHI: Army commanders will increasingly need to become “technocrats” capable of understanding algorithms and questioning machine-generated outputs as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in battlefield systems, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Vipul Singhal said Wednesday.
“More and more commanders have to start becoming technocrats and understand what is happening inside, what data is being used and how it is being manipulated to give the decision,” he said while speaking on trust gaps in AI systems at the Synergia Conclave in New Delhi.
The growing use of AI-enabled decision-support tools is also sharply shrinking the time available for battlefield decisions, he said. “The time between spotting a target and the system suggesting action is very small,” he said, noting that AI-driven systems can process real-time inputs from drones, satellites and ground sensors and recommend strikes within seconds.
This creates a dilemma for commanders operating in high-tempo combat environments.
“If he doesn’t press that button and doesn’t take what the AI has told him, he may lose the opportunity and may be questioned about it later. Whereas if he does it and goes wrong, then where is the moral buffer?” he said.